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22 September 2010

Star Chefs Congress. when chefs watch chefs.

we learn from each other. we learn from those who speak the same language as us. we like to see new toys, we like to play, we like to gawk and star fuck and snack. we network, we stand back, we jump in, we press our jackets and we show up late. we meet & greet. we are awkward and full of hubris. we think we're above it all and we know we're so so small. we know we have so much to learn. we think we know it all. we think tv has made us. we want tv to make us. we toil away quietly. we blend into the crowd and we wear patten leather clogs. we spike our hair and get new ink and we have disdain for all that shit. we use hydrocolloids and make excuses and we just cook. we get our hands dirty and we haven't picked up a saute pan in years. we only sharpen our own knives on a stone and we use electric knives.

we.

we. cannot be contained by one definition.

chef.

what does it mean anyway.

but what i do know is this.

i found my calling. the first time i put on a chef's white double buttoned jacket i was home. and i didn't even know what home was. not ever. but i knew.

and that doesn't mean i don't doubt. that i don't falter and get lost and lose it. to be inspired is a grace, not a guarantee.

love does not promise.

life has no clock.

who you meet, what you see, what you taste, who you taste, words you read, music you hear, fruit you pick, who you watch, who learns you, who you thank, who thanks you, what press you get, what fame you have to live up to, what you chase, who you chase, contracts you sign, how you struggle, what you lose, who you lose

all of this is fleeting. memory. rememory d.

*

a few nibbles from my live tweets~

"Cuisine
is dynamic. Anything that uses the vagaries of ingredients, and that
those ingredients change, fuel innovation." David Kinch

Dan
Barber called out the concept of "trend-ifying" professional
cooking/cheffing by talking shut about our "Media Climate." nice. Word.

"Food
is ephemeral. It becomes a memory after you eat it. It should provokes
thought & make you learn something." David Kinch

"It
doesn't matter how good it looks on the beautiful porcelain plate/wood/
metal. If it doesn't taste really really good..." Thomas Keller

Next
dessert is about spring. We don't have rhubarb because winter is very
long. So we thought green. Green is the colour of spring. Patrice Demers

Instead of using sugar in apple sorbet we use the ice apple juice." Patrice Demers

What does a chef do? He cooks. And cooking is a craft. Cooking is repetition. And one must learn the craft. ~Thomas Keller

"it's the chef's responsibility to nurture." Thomas Keller

*

when we go to these conferences we rate ourselves, compare. we see who we aspire to be and those who we would rather die than become. we say we'll never sell out or we look for better ways to sign our soul off.

i went to learn what i know already. that i love my people. that i despise and desire the industry and i will forever be beholden to the craft. that the media is a hungry machine with no teeth and taste buds. it swallows whole like the cyclops, never satiated.

but in the fight to leap into its eyeless clutches or to pry ourselves from its grasp, we, if we open our eyes and hearts and minds, can see and feel and taste and smell and learn so

much.

we hear our words in the mouths of others. we laugh and we are understood.

we learn from each other. we learn from those who speak the same language as us. whether the alphabet or the intonations are the same, or not. we speak the same language. when we pick up a knife or taste an apple or whisk a warm cream or build a story with disparate textures.

*

a lot of people these past days thanked me for writing eggbeater. it is an honor. thank you for working the line every night, and the ovens every day. thank you for upholding this craft i love with all my heart.

Comments

Cooking is a craft just like acting, or painting and the basics of a craft must be taught so that the chef or the actor or the painter or writer can then inflict their own creativity. That is what I have always known to be true. Which is why there are schools specializing in these Arts.

So why does Anthony Bourdain disagree with learning the basics of the craft of cooking?

Why is 'restaurant' cooking the be all and the end all of the craft of cooking and why should it be considered a 'lower' level in the snobbery of 'chef-dom?' to consider hotel cooking or country clubs like joining the mafia. Isn't this a kind of snobbery at its worst from a man who knows the school of hard knocks and was lucky to survive and thrive because of it?

I should have asked this question to Ruhlman. But I draw the line at two comments and I used mine up.

I've also stumbled upon your site and have also spent ages trawling through your archives. Wonderful site Chef, honoured to meet you, I've subscribed so I'll be back for sure. Your passion & commitment shine through. Awesome.

Shuna,
We worked together breifly at Bouchon many years ago. Your poetic ruminations of this business we call home are so inspiring. I thank you. Your words are only bested by your desserts...and yes I was guilty of eating a few creme caramels late night at Bouchon...and pot de cremes ... and lemon tart ... and tatin...and peaches too.
- Derek

Yes, thank you again for refusing to compromise. I had a fun trip back home with some really disappointing food and I realize that I've started to really appreciate food so much more since starting my journey. I think the best food I had was home cooked, or the fish pie in a little country pub surrounded by farmers and their dogs.

Great writing.
Why do people think being a chef is cool? I get that response all the time. Then I tell them I work on a boat and they flip out thinking it is a dream job. Reality little more than slave labor and confined space